The BL Game’s Gongs Came to Find Me in Real Life chapter 26

“Nobody should know. How thoroughly the Krause family hid it, especially since you’re a childhood friend, you should know even less.”

……Is that our backstory?

For a second, I was utterly at a loss for words.

Come to think of it, Cedric hadn’t called him ‘Adrian Krause Crown’, but simply ‘Adrian Krause’.

Dropping the surname entirely. It sounded like he was intentionally concealing it.

Still, wasn’t it strange?

From what I heard from Gongi, Adrian was publicly known as a third-generation chaebol heir.

That meant it had likely been officially announced to the media that he was the future successor to lead the Krause family.

Yet Cedric knew that fact and still went out of his way to drop Adrian’s ‘surname’.

Was he hiding it on purpose, or did he feel like Adrian didn’t even deserve to use it?

Seeing Cedric maintain a serious expression in silence, I was certain there must be some deeply complicated family background at play here.

Of course, my friend Kim Semo didn’t have any backstory like that. He was just…… an ordinary, smelly senior returning to campus.

Right at that moment, Cedric, who had been harboring the silence, quietly opened his mouth.

“Is that why?”

“Why what?”

“Why you’ve been acting so weird toward me for a while.”

I kept my mouth shut.

Well, obviously, seeing Kim Semo turn into a video game character would make anyone freak out.

“……Well, I was flustered at first, obviously.”

“What?”

“Still, maybe things aren’t so bad the way they are now.”

A friend who debates massive pecs vs. a friend who helps you with team projects.

……Forgive me, Semo. I choose the latter.

Once again, I tell you, you were a truly good Semo.

Even as a friend, your artistic contributions to the massive pecs debate were top-tier.

While I was lost in my own weird imagination and muttering to myself, Cedric spoke in a low murmur.

“……Don’t you think that’s selfish?”

That jolted me right back to reality.

‘Selfish?’

……Maybe he was right.

It was pretty selfish of me to feel that Cedric—who helped with team projects—was better than a friend of over twenty years.

“……You’re right. It is selfish.”

I gave a bitter smile. I’m sorry, Kim Semo.

A momentary desire made me abandon you.

As I was self-deprecating like that, Cedric quietly asked back.

“Why did you pretend not to know when you already knew?”

“It’s not like I pretended not to know.”

It was just that the moment everyone started insisting you were Kim Semo, I completely lost the words to reply.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck, then slowly opened my mouth.

“Because it felt like nothing would change even if I brought it up.”

If I denied it, I’d just sound like a crazy person.

Right then—

Ping—

A notification sound rang out.

Reflexively, I checked my phone screen.

[Queen’s Mart: 7,300 KRW payment completed]

……?

I stared blankly at the payment record.

……Looks like Lucian went grocery shopping.

I was looking forward to it.

Wondering how delicious today’s meal would be.

As I instinctively lifted my head, I found Cedric staring at me with a dazed expression.

“……Are you serious?”

His voice was dipped in something strangely subdued, causing me to ask back without thinking.

“What is?”

“About nothing changing for you.”

The phrasing sounded a bit weird, but I shrugged and muttered,

“Well, obviously.”

At that moment, Cedric’s gaze wavered.

He tightly shut his lips for a second, then added in a low voice.

“What you mean is, no matter who I am… and no matter what family I come from, things between us won’t change.”

“Huh?”

‘Did I say something like that?’

While I stood there dumbfounded by the bizarre direction this conversation was taking, Cedric lowered his gaze and let out a pleased, soft chuckle.

…Wait a minute, how on earth did he interpret it that way?!

“……Really?”

What kind of solo delusion is he spinning on his own?

“……Hey.”

It seemed pretty clear that Cedric was laboring under a massive misunderstanding.

Having no clue where this wild misunderstanding had even originated, I stood there looking like an idiot.

Just as I opened my mouth to set the record straight, Cedric smiled with his eyes crinkling—

‘Wait, this character wasn’t supposed to be like this, right?’

He quietly opened his mouth.

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

……I’m sorry, but I don’t have a single memory built with you.

When I offered an awkward smile, the corners of Cedric’s mouth slowly stretched.

Then, with a cryptic, meaningful gaze, he murmured quietly.

“He’s my half-brother.”

“……What?”

“Our father is the same. But my mother is a concubine. Isn’t it hilarious that this kind of thing still happens in the 21st century?”

For a second, I was speechless.

The background of Crown Maker was a medieval setting, so it wasn’t like imperial family dynamics were entirely incomprehensible, but hearing Cedric talk about main wives and concubines in the 21st century—just as he said, it was ridiculous.

No, rather than ridiculous, maybe it was a serious issue.

……Wait, wasn’t your main shouzu his half-brother too?

I swallowed those words tightly down my throat, giving an appropriate nod of agreement.

“Yeah, that’s completely absurd.”

At my reply, Cedric offered a bitter, cynical smirk and continued with an unbothered tone.

“Since Adrian was born to the primary wife of the Krause family, he was officially announced as the legitimate successor.”

Was it a dark story?

Crown Maker never really delved deeply into the complex relationships with the male leads.

It was simply a game focused on raising the male leads and crowning the main shouzu as Emperor.

The lens provided in this game was always pointed solely at the main shouzu.

Perhaps because of that?

I knew they were brothers, but I never even had the chance to hear anything beyond that.

Hesitating, thinking I should perhaps reach out and pat Cedric on the shoulder, I started extending my hand when Cedric’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Of course, that’s only on the surface.”

At those words, the hand I had reached out toward him froze dead in midair.
“Officially, I’m treated as a son of a concubine and regarded as a collateral branch… but in reality, this was a measure taken to protect me.”

“……Protect you?”

Cedric slowly nodded as he spoke.

The crimson eyes locked onto mine were glowing with an odd, uncanny brilliance.

“Yes. They intentionally kept me in a low position within the family so I wouldn’t draw unwanted attention.”

Was there this kind of backstory?

‘Crown Maker’ was a famously high-difficulty game, and the male leads’ backstories were terribly lacking.

“Good-looking on the outside, completely devoid of charm.”

That was the universal user review for the game’s guys.

But… listening to Cedric talk right now, I couldn’t help but wonder if I hadn’t even properly understood their stories at all.

The male leads had virtually zero lore fleshed out in the game to begin with.

None of the players had ever truly grasped their backgrounds.

Or had their settings somehow changed when they crossed over into reality?